The Mercuries Tigers () were a

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

team belonging to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Chinese Professional Baseball League The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

(CPBL) between 1990 and 1999.

History

The Tigers were owned and administered by the local Mercuries Corporation whose then chairman Chen He-dong (陳河東) was a classmate and a close friend of Brother Hotel and

Brother Elephants A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

's chairman Hung Teng-sheng (洪騰勝) in the

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

, and immediately promised to fulfill Hung's wishes to form a Taiwanese professional baseball league in 1988. This team was established accordingly in 1989 and took the now-demolished

Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium The Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium () was a baseball park located in the Songshan District of Taipei, Taiwan. It was opened in 1959, and hosted numerous major baseball games over the years, including the CPBL's first game in 1990 between Uni ...

as its home throughout its history. Because the Mercuries Corporation itself was inexperienced in running sports clubs, in 1988 and 1989 it was mostly Hung Teng-sheng that built up the Tiger's roster as well as managing most business, with Chen He-dong sponsoring the necessary fund. This team therefore became the only one of the CPBL's founding teams without an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

history: both

and

Wei Chuan Dragons The Wei Chuan Dragons () are a professional baseball team in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) that originally existed between 1990 and 1999. In 2019, negotiations regarding the franchise's revival and return to the CPBL took ...

were original amateur teams, while the bulk of

Uni-President Lions The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, stylized as Uni-President 7-ᴇʟᴇᴠᴇn Lions, also known as Uni-Lions (), are a professional baseball team playing in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). The Lions are based in Tainan City, Ta ...

's players came from

Taipower The Taiwan Power Company (, Taipower; ) is a state-owned electric power industry providing electricity to Taiwan and off-shore islands of the Republic of China. History Taipower was established on 1 May 1946. Its origins can be traced to 1919 ...

(台電). With a strong initial roster, the Tigers won the first CPBL half-season championship in 1990, but ironically it was also the only one half-season championship it ever won throughout its history. In the 1990

Taiwan Series Taiwan Series () is the championship series of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). It is usually played in late October or early November, after the regular season. It was formerly known as the ''CPBL Seasonal Championship Series'' () ...

, the Tigers were defeated by the

2-4, and except for winning the 2nd place in the upper 1994 and lower 1995 half season, this club had never gained an upper-half seat in the final seasonal standings throughout its history, as well as long time being the least popular and poorest attended CPBL team throughout its lifetime. After long time loss the Mercuries Corporation finally closed down the team after the 1999 season ended. Most Tiger's players and coaches were later absorbed by the

and

Chinatrust Whales The Chinatrust Whales (中信鯨), formerly Koos Group Whales (和信鯨), were a Taiwanese professional baseball team. Founded as an amateur team in 1991, this club became professional and joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in ...

. In November 1999 right after the close down, the

TVBS TVBS Media Inc. (), formerly Liann Yee Production Co., Ltd. (), is a Taiwanese commercial television broadcasting company. It was originally established as a joint venture between TVB in Hong Kong and Era Group in Taiwan, but TVB took over Er ...

and

Taiwan Major League The Taiwan Major League Professional Baseball (TML; ) was a professional baseball league in Taiwan that operated from 1996 to 2003. It was established by TV tycoon Chiu Fu-sheng after a row over the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) b ...

's then chairman Chiu Fu-sheng (邱復生) ever invited Chen He-dong to sponsor the

Taichung Agan The Taichung Agan () was a Taiwanese professional baseball team belonging to the Taiwan Major League (TML). It was based in Taichung and took the Taichung Baseball Field (and occasionally the Hsinchu CKS Baseball Stadium) as its home throughout its ...

, but Chen He-dong did not respond
/sup>. The most famous players in the team history includes Lin Chung-chiu (林仲秋) and Luis Iglesias, the former have won the leader of HR in single seasons most times in the

CPBL The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

history.

Regular Season Records

Playoff Records

Taiwan Series

Notable former players

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External links